A brief background of the Mattachine Society: the Mattachine Foundation (later Society) was founded in the winter of 1950 by Harry Hay and six other gay men, all radical progressives or former communists. The term "Mattachine" has its roots in the Societe Mattachine, a French medieval masque group that traveled from village to village, using ballads and dramas to point out social injustice. The name was used in its present sense to underscore the reality that gay men and women were a "masked people, unknown and anonymous." The structure of the early Mattachine Foundation closely followed the organization of the Communist Party, with secret cells. In 1951, the Mattachine Foundation issued its ground-breaking "Statement of Missions and Purpose" which called for a grassroots movement of gay people to challenge anti-gay discrimination throughout society, as well as recognizing the importance of building a gay consciousness. By 1953, the Mattachine Foundation began to legally challenge the entrapment of gay men by law enforcement officials and to poll political candidates on gay rights issues. By that year, however, the witchhunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his poisonous movement known as McCarthyism to identify and ferret out all undesirables in government and society at large were at their peak, and a newspaper article appeared linking the Mattachine Foundation with the communist movement. Panicked, conservative members of the Mattachine Foundation gained control of the organization and the group's founders, including Harry Hay, resigned. It was in that year that the organization changed its name to "The Mattachine Society" as well as redirecting its goals from claiming a minority status and building a gay consciousness to one of assimilating gay people into mainstream society. And yet, although its earlier roots were far more progressive, the Mattachine Society stands as a pivotal and foundational turning-point in gay American history that laid the groundwork for what was to become the modern gay liberation movement.

Partial Annotated Index

The fourth issue of "Mattachine Review" (Issue No. 4, July-August 1955) published by The Mattachine Society, the country's first nation-wide homosexual organization - the roots of the modern gay movement - with area chapters in that year already established in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach (California) and Chicago. A stapled digest containing 44 pages including front and rear covers.

Contents include: a Resolution passed and adopted by the General Convention of the Mattachine Society, Inc. ("...be it resolved that the Mattachine Society does hereby appeal to parents, ministers, doctors, and all those who come in contact with and have a lasting impression on the youth of this nation, to become aware of the sexual problems of all youths, understand it, and deal with it intelligently and with charity..."); short article "Mattachine Salutes Judge Learned Hand" (with his photograph appearing on the front cover); article "Homosexuality...is it a handicap or a talent?" by Luther Allen ;review of James Barr Fugates' homosexual-themed play "Game of Fools" entitled "Play Without a Stage" by Lyn Pedersen (pseudonym of Jim Kepner); article "A Noted Psychiatrist Asks: Why So Much Hysteria?" by Wes Knight ("Karl M. Bowman, M.D., San Francisco, psychiatrist and professor of medicine at the University of California, recently deplored in unmistakable terms the 'wave of hysteria' in goverment agencies regarding alleged 'deviate sex practices' among some personnel working for the government..."); article "On the Bisexuality of Man" by Ward Summer ; article "Because I am a homosexual woman, MUST I BE DIFFERENT?" by Mrs. A. H. Sherman ("No, says the author of the following article..."); article "Has Oscar Wilde's Crime Been Redeemed?" by Beverly Baxter (from Canada's Maclean's Magazine, with illustration and two photos); news item "The Problem of Homosexuality: Australia Faces It, Too..." ; homophile news column "International Report" ; article "Uncle Sam Keeps Hacking Away the Rights and Benefits of The Homosexual Veteran" by Mackinneth Fingal ; article "The Causes of Homosexuality" (comments on the "Symposium on the Causes of Homosexuality" featured in the June issue of Sexology Magazine); letters to the editor ("Readers Write"); Mattachine Society chapter news entitled "Mattachine Newsreel" ; short article "Civil Liberties on the 'Upswing' Again" ;book reviews by James Barr Fugate ;Directory of homophile organizations and publications ; and an "Open Letter to Mr. and Mrs. America" ("You have a 'stake' and should have a concern in the research, education and social action projects of the Mattachine Society, Inc...").

Contents include: excerpt from "Sex and the Law" by Judge Morris Ploscowe ;directory of news-stands throughout the country where one can obtain a copy of the Mattachine Review ; homophile news column "International Report" ; article "Culture and Sexuality" by R. H. Crowther ; article "The Influence of Heterosexual Culture on Homosexual Attitudes" by Albert Ellis, Ph.D. ("I have recently had a good deal of first-hand contact with several highly intelligent homosexuals in New York City..."); article "Sex Variants Find Their Own Answer" by Jame Phelan (regarding a "unique experiment in rehabilitating sex offenders"); article "Homosexuality and the Liberal Mind" by James Barr Fugate ; special four-page "Report to Subscribers" ;subscription and distribution statistics for the first five issues (there were 391 subscribers by October, and the print-run was above 4,600 copies); article "The Importance of Being Honest" by Lyn Pedersen (pseudonym of Jim Kepner); article "One in a while someone writes...'Take My Name Off Your Mailing List!'" by Wes Knight ;letters to the editor ("Readers Write"); and a directory of homophile organizations and publications .

Contents include: "Resolution in Support of the Model Penal Code" (passed and adopted by the Board of Directors on September 3, 1955); article "On the Cure of Homosexuality" by Albert Ellis, Ph.D. (Dr. Ellis held that exclusive homosexuals were "necessarily neurotic"); book review entitled "Sex, Religion & Myth: A Book Review in Dialogue Form" by Donal Norton (on Dr. Derrick Sherwin Bailey's book "Homosexuality and Western Christian Tradition"); article "Humanity's Most Troublesome Pressure: Regulating the Sex Urge" by Luther Allen (a book review of "All the Sexes" by George W. Henry, M.D.); short entry "Origins of Homophilic Argot" by Donal Norton ("QUEER: Perhaps the commonest term in use in the United States at the present time...Stemming from 15th-16th century Scotch, where a 'quire' - choir - referred to a group of prisoners, it passed through the Elizabethan jargon and came to mean 'one outside the law.' By the 19th century, it came to mean 'different,' 'odd,' or 'peculiar,' and the phrase 'a queer one' meant one who was not as conventional as those around him, with just a hint of something 'mentally wrong.' It is possible that the word transferred to the homophile in the wake of the popular phrase 'Queer as a three dollar bill'"); article "The Conditioning Factor in Human Behavior" by Carl B. Harding (on child development and human behavior); article "Hadrian and Antinous: The Love-Life of an Emperor" by Mack Fingal ; article "A Forgotten Commonplace and How It Affects Homosexuals" by Lyn Pedersen (pseudonym of Jim Kepner; on the topic of change: "One writer assures us, 'Heterosexuals will never...' and another opines, 'Homosexuals have always...'"); article "Mattachine - What Does It Mean? The Question that has been asked for the past five years..." ("In the Italian language, the word 'matte' is found - it means fool. The 'chino' stem, a diminutive form, is obvious enough. That is a probable source of the word"); book review of Ann Aldrich's "We Walk Alone Through Lesbos' Lonely Groves" ; article "Handicap or a Talent...the Aftermath" (in response to Luther Allen's article "Homosexuality - Is it a Handicap or a Talent" published in the July-August issue); homophile news column "International Report" ;letters to the editor ("Readers Write"); and a directory of homophile organizations and publications.

Contents include: full-page announcement for the upcoming 1956 Convention of the Mattachine Society to be held May 11-13, 1956 in San Francisco ; poem "Loneliness" by Helene C. M. Carlyle (originally published in London in 1920); article "Hold That Curtain...Juliet's Still Shaving!" by James Barr Fugate (on theatre); article "T.C. Jones: The Other Side of the Coin" by Wes Knight (on T.C. Jones, famed female impersonator, with her photograph); article "Agreeable Disagreement" (on proper methods to express disagreement, reprinted from the November, 1955 issue of "The Toastmaster"); article "Sex Offenders Tell of Helping Themselves" (on the work and progress in helping the sex offender at California's Atascadero State Hospital, accompanied by a photograph of the hospital); short news article "La Vie Parisienne" by Noel Anthony (on Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey and his address before a meeting of doctors and sociologists in Paris); poem "Trio for Kurt" by Donal Norton ; memoir "I Left No Orphan!" by Paul Uglem (a memoir from 1939, when the author was an 18-year old marine aboard a navy light cruiser); article "Love Ideals: Christian and Greek" by R. H. Crowther ; a "Report to Subscribers" from Hal Call (Publications Director); and a directory of Mattachine Society chapters.

Contents include: editorial "Homosexuality in Boise...Let's Get at the Causes!" by Ken Burns (on the Boise scandal, by the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Mattachine Society); column "International Report" ("GRAVE CHARGES: A charge that some members of Parliament are 'practicing homosexuals' is made in a report issued by the British Medical Association..."); article "The Challenge of the Kinsey Report" by Richard E. Lentz (on Alfred C. Kinsey and the Kinsey studies); article "Some Myths About the Sex Offender" by Paul W. Tappan ; article "The Use of Psychotherapy with Homosexuals" by Albert Ellis, Ph.D. ; article "The Gross Indecency Statutes" by Mackinneth Fingal ; article "Culture and the Invert" by R. H. Crowther ; Part One of article "Homosexuality, Morality and Religion" by Luther Allen ;"Readers Write" (letters to the editor); article "Mattachine Salutes 'New Deal For Deviates'" (containing a reprint of an editorial that had appeared in the Canadian weekly "Flash" calling for revision of the Canadian Criminal Code dealing with sex deviation in light of modern medical knowledge); book reviews ;list of foreign homophile publications ;Mattachine Society Directory .

Contents include: a letter from John L. Butler, M.D., Director of the Mental Health Services for the State of Idaho (with the Mattachine preface "In the February issue of the Review, a letter to John L. Butler, M.D...was published here. In it, the chairman of the Mattachine Society urged that Dr. Butler and others in his field spearhead a professional drive to get at the causes of homosexuality. A recent homosexual scandal in Boise brought the issue to light, since severe prison terms were handed out to participants, and this method of correcting the problem had been scored by criticism from Dr. Butler. His reply follows..."); article "A Homosexual Looks at the Child Molester" by James Barr Fugate ; article "Queen's Country Revisited" by Lyn Pedersen (pseudonym of Jim Kepner, on various homosexual scandals then rocking Great Britain); article "Should Laws Be Changed?" by D. J. West ("Legal reform of the penalties for homosexual offences would remove a heavy burden of fear and resentment"); "Harry Truman on Security Risks" (an excerpt from "The Truman Memoirs"); article "Searches and Seizures in California and the Protection of Constitutional Rights" by the Homorable Jesse W. Carter (then Associate Justice, California Supreme Court); announcement of the upcoming Mattachine Society's 3rd Annual Convention (to be held May 11-13 in San Francisco); double-page illustration by artist Bruce Balfour entitled "Bohemian Saturday Night" (in San Francisco's North Beach area); short news article "[Alfred C.] Kinsey Links Teen Crime to Sex Curbs" ; article "The Problem of Hypocrisy: Does It Affect Homosexuals?" by Ward Summer ;full-page announcement of the new Mattachine Library Project ;"Readers Write" (letters to the editor); article "Fair Employment Practices and the Homosexual" by Robert Kirk ;book reviews ;list of foreign homophile publications ; and a list of "A Citizen's Rights in Case of Arrest" (compiled by the National Association for Sex Research, Inc. out of Hollywood).

Contents include: editorial entitled "License Unlimited" ("In San Francisco recently, military police swooped down onto a remote section of beach and arrested six persons - all adult men - and charged them with immoral sex offenses..."); article "Awards of Merit from Mattachine" (including photographs of two awards, one presented to the Church of England Moral Welfare Council, the other to D. Stewart Lucas - Donald Lucas, business manager of the Mattachine Review and named Member of the Year, as well as the Charter presented to the New York chapter of the Mattachine Society); article "Towards a Clarification of Homosexual Terminology" by Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey (from "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male"); article "WHOM Should We Tell?" by Carl B. Harding ("Should I tell my parents? my brother? sister? Should I confide in my fiance? my closest friends and associates? How can I tell my wife? My husband? My son or daughter? Do I dare let it be known to my employer?"); article "[The] Daughters of Bilitis" by founding member Del Martin ("There's a new organization for women interested in the homophile problem as it affects the lesbian..."); article "The Italian Penal Code: A Study in Evolution" by Mack Fingal ; article "The Homosexual Faces a Challenge" by Ken Burns (delivered as the opening address at the recent 3rd Annual Convention of the Mattachine Society); article "Morality v. The Mores" by Luther Allen ("Again and again in this era we have witnessed the victory of principle over custom..."); book reviews ;"Readers Write" (letters to the editor); and article "Mattachine Salutes T.C. Jones" ("The female star who isn't in 'New Faces of 1956'" with one photo of him playing Tallulah Bankhead).

Special International Edition (all articles were translated into English). October, 1956 issue of the "Mattachine Review" (Volume 2 #5) A stapled digest containing 44 pages including front and rear covers.

Contents include: introductory article "International Edition" ("As its first major contribution to the Mattachine Review, the New York Area Council has prepared the material for this International Edition, which includes articles that originally appeared in half a dozen languages in various [homophile] European publications..."); a "Letter from a homosexual...and the reply" ("Not long ago, 'Justice Weekly,' a tabloid weekly published in Toronto, printed the following letter from a homosexual who called himself a 'perplexed guy.' It was followed a few issues later with a reply. Both are reprinted here"); article "Morals and Pseudo-Morals" by Professor E. Servadio (from the ICSE Newsletter - the International Committee for Sexual Equality - published out of Amsterdam, Holland); gay World War II memoir entitled "War Story" by Gilles Armor (from the Swiss homophile journal "Der Kreis"); article "The Twelfth Man" by Marc Daniel (from the French homophile journal "Arcadie," on the Eulenburg scandal); article "Homosexuality in the Near East" by A. Amin (from the then-just-defunct Italian journal "Sesso e Liberta" - "Sex and Freedom"); article "Comment on Danish Law" by Lis Nancke (from the Danish homophile journal "Vennen"); book reviews ;"Readers Write" (letters to the editor); Mattachine Society Directory .

Contents include: announcement "We Had To Do It" (an increase in subscription rates); "Mattachine Salutes 'MEN' True Adventure" (on men's adventure magazines that occasionally publish "an informative article that speaks without emotion on the homosexual subject"); article "Values and Responsibilities" by Luther Allen (a discussion on a book the author had recently read entitled "Marriage and Morals: The Catholic Background to Sex"); Part 1 of article entitled "The Tender Trap" by Peter Jackson ("Broadly speaking, every homosexual in this country is classified by law and practice as a potential felon and traitor"); short feature "The Bergler Critique Begins" (on the just-published book entitled "Homosexuality - Disease or Way of Life" by vicious homophobe Dr. Edmund Bergler); short feature "Harvard Expert Says Nation Going Sex Mad" (Professor Pitirim Sorokin); article "No Need To Despair" by the Rev. Davis Stein ("Not all members of the clergy in America are willing to speak out frankly on the subject of homosexuality. But now and then a representative of the church gives voice to words of hope for homosexuals with deep religious conflicts and feelings of guilt..."); book reviews ;lengthy letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write"); article "Bavarian Fantasy: The Story of Ludwig II" by "M.T." ;article "Dogma and the Homosexual" by Philip Jason ;article "Let's Face Psychotherapy" by Alice La Vere ("It has been my experience of the past 22 years counseling people in general with emotional disturbances that the prevalence of mental illness is found among heterosexuals equal to that among the homosexuals"); Mattachine Directory .

Contents include: Mattachine's preface to this "Second Annual International Issue" ;article "About the Prejudice Against Homosexuality" by Dr. med. Wolfgang E. Bredtschneider ("Actually, it is practically unimportant whether homosexuality is congenital or acquired very early. The results of therapeutic attempts show this. It may well be that a person is seduced into a homosexual act during or after puberty or even later; he can never, however, be seduced into becoming a homosexual"); poem "Peruvian Riders" by Jose Joaquin Olmedo (written circa 1815); article "Do We Need a World Center? Homosexual Publications Ask for Mutual Goals" by Jack Argo (editor of the ICSE Newsletter out of Amsterdam, the publication of the International Committee for Sexual Equality); article "How Churchill Became Marlborough..." by Marc Daniel (from the French homophile journal "Arcadie"); one-page editorial from the April 1957 issue of Arcadie entitled "Arcadie's Fight - Heard And Seen" ("In the Latin Quarter. Chez Dupont. A group of 'honor' students. They are talking. Animatedly. 'Hey, look here! With all these stories of homosexuality, what would you do if a character made advances to you?' One, muscular: 'Huh! That's simple. I'd bop him one in the kisser!' Another, mocking: 'Me? I'd send him off to his doc!' A third, severe (he's saddened): 'I'd break off all relations with him'...And THEY think themselves, the first especially, 'Christians'! And THEY aspire, the second especially, to be 'scientists'! And THEY fight, the third especially, for a 'civilization' which defends the 'liberty of the human individual'"); article "Let Us Be Proud! Some Reflections on the Subject of Homosexuality" by L.W. (from the Swiss homophile journal Der Kreis, November 1956 issue); short story "The Mutiny" by Classen Von Neudegg (from Humanitas); article "On the Rack" by Scorpio (from the June 1957 issue of Der Kreis, on gay literature); article "Homosexual Literature: A Partial Picture" by Andre Baudry (editor of the Parisian homophile journal Arcadie); letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write"); Part III of a Bibliography of Books on the Homosexual and Related Subjects ;Mattachine Directory .

Contents include: lengthy Announcement of the upcoming Fifth Congress of the International Committee for Sexual Equality (to be held in Brussels on May 24-26, 1958); article "What Can I Do? A Mother Gives An Answer" by Mrs. Leah Gailey ("'But I'm afraid to tell my parents!' 'Why?' 'Because they won't understand. My mother will probably have a heart attack, and my father will kick me out!'"); new column "Faces Behind the [Mattachine] Names," this one featuring Henry Foster (Mattachine Review Production Director, with two photographs); short article "The Art of Getting Along" by Bill H. M. Stover (president of the Leadership Training Institute of the District of Columbia); excerpts of letters and editorial comments from the readers of the London Times (on the ground-breaking Wolfenden Report, recently released); book reviews ("The Ethics of Sexual Acts" by Rene Guyon, and "The Sergeant" by Dennis Murphy); Mattachine Directory ; and letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write").

Contents include: article "It has NOT passed yet - But Britons Keep Talking About [the] Wolfenden Report" by Wes Knight (with introductory preface "In an effort to speed consideration of the Wolfenden Committee's recommendations by Parliament in England, a Homosexual Law Reform Society has been formed in London"); article "Homosexuals in a Related Culture: A Brief Investigation" by Philip Jason (a short history of homosexual culture in Turkey); letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write"); lengthy report "Sex Offender, Granted Probation, Can't Be Tried For Subsequent Failure To Register Address Change, Court Rules" (reprinted from "The Recorder," a San Francisco legal newspaper); four-page "Challenge Ahead: Behind the Scenes, A Report to Readers" (a review of Mattachine Society and Mattachine Review activities, accomplishments, progress, and goals during the first six months of 1958); news article "Doctor Urges Review Of Sex Deviate Laws" (Dr. Karl Bowman, reprinted from the May 10, 1958 issue of the San Francisco News); new column "Faces Behind the [Mattachine] Names," this one featuring Donald - Don - Lucas (Executive Secretary of the Mattachine Society, and Business and Circulation Manager of the Mattachine Review, with two photographs); book reviews ("The Immortal" by Walter Ross, and lengthy review of "Marriage Below Zero" by Allan Dale, an extremely rare, and possibly first American gay novel published in 1889); Part VIII of the Mattachine-compiled "Homophilic Bibliography" (a list of relevant gay fiction and non-fiction titles); article "Visitor from Europe: Rudolf Burkhardt" by John Logan (Rudolf Burkhardt was the English language editor of the homophile magazine "Der Kreis - The Circle"); and published letter from Rudolf Burkhardt entitled "The English Editor of 'The Circle' to His Friends in the USA" (upon his return home from a five-week visit to the United States, where he visited the offices of ONE, Inc. and the Mattachine Society).

Contents include: article "The Hetero Fights Own Compelling Homosexual Urge" by "S.J.C." (reprinted from the Canadian publication "Justice Weekly"); news item "New Massachusetts Law Provides Treatment for Sex Offenders" ;Part II of "Homosexuals in a Related Culture: A Brief Investigation" by Philip Jason (continuing his earlier article appearing in the previous issue, that of homosexuality in the Byzantine-Islamic world); article "What's My Type?" by "H.L.S." ("Who or what are 'my type'? We are the furtive. The frightened. And when it comes down to knowledge of homosexuality and homosexuals, we are the unbelievably stupid...we are not the very young - we range upward from about twenty-five years. We are usually white collar. We are usually married; in sensitive positions, or have some other reasons for our high degree of fear. Usually we became aware of our problem belatedly and have confided in no one"); article "On the Suppression of Homosexual Literature" by Curtis DeWees ("The reference division of the New York Library, a superb research facility with almost four million books and 8,000 users daily, has no subject heading called 'homosexual' or 'homosexuality' in its immense card catalog. There is entered only one card under 'inversion' and one entry under 'perversion'"); announcement of new publication "Sex and Censorship" ;short story "The Enslaved: A Commentary on Morals" by Eric Cashen ;new column "Faces Behind the [Mattachine] Names," this one featuring Conrad Bowman (Treasurer of both the Mattachine Society and Mattachine Review, with two photographs); letter entitled "Punishment for Homosexuals in Service" (reprinted from the London Observer); book review (of the lengthy gay prose poem "In the Forests of Heaven and Hell" by Forrest Anderson); Part IX of the Mattachine-compiled "Homophilic Bibliography" (a list of relevant gay fiction and non-fiction titles); and letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write").

Contents include: Editorial "Ninth Year Ahead" (on the progress of the Mattachine Society: "Today the Society has spread with small units located across the nation, but its membership total is still under 200"); Part 2 of article "On the Suppression of Homosexual Literature" by Curtis DeWees (concluded from the August issue: "Let us next take a look at present homosexuals for further invalidation of the censor's argument that obscene literature corrupts youth. There are in this country today somewhere between 12 and 15 million homosexuals. Let each of them ask himself, 'Did I become homosexual by reading books or magazines on the subject?' I believe the answer will be a universal - NO!"); short review of Roger Gellert's play "Quaint Honour" (reprinted from the London Observer); short article "Study Homosexual Pattern" (reprinted from the Science Newsletter: "The homosexual is the victim of his own emotional problems and environmental factors, not a victim of hormonal imbalance, alcoholism, or genius"); article and commentary "What Price Free Expression?" by Luther Allen ;article "An Aftermath to 'Discard the Mask'" (written by a "non-homosexual" in response to a previous Mattachine Review article of the same name); article "Defeating Fear" by John LeRoy (a discussion of seven recommended principles for homosexuals: 1. Have a clear understanding of the thing you fear; 2. Decide whether or not something can be done about the thing you fear; 3. Determine the probability of the thing you fear happening; 4. Do the thing you fear; 5. Deal with your fears immediately; 6. Believe in your ability to overcome fears and solve problems; and 7. Don't expect to be completely free of fear); Part X of the Mattachine's "Homophilic Bibliography" (a list of relevant gay fiction and non-fiction titles); and new column "Faces Behind the [Mattachine] Names," this one featuring Roy Hooper (Administrative Assistant for the Mattachine Review, with two photographs).

Contents include: Preface to the International Issue ;article "Das bewusste Leben" by "Foltro" (in German); "The Conscious Life" by "Foltro" (an English translation of the previous article "Das bewusste Leben" - "I was forty years old when I started to live..."); lengthy article "The Last Alexandrian: Constantine P. Cavafy" by Philip Jason ;short story - possibly a memoir - entitled "The Recruit" by "H.R." (an intimate account of the relationship between a sailor and a marine - "The sailor looked frightened. 'Wait a minute - wait!' 'What's wrong?' 'You're a boy!' 'So what?' 'Boys aren't supposed to kiss each other.' 'Why not? Who said so?'"); short story "The Trouble About Nilo: A Story of 200 A.D." by O.F. Simpson ;article "Leaves from a Journal" by Robert Amar (translated from the April 1958 issue of the Parisian homophile journal "Arcadie"); news announcement "'Arcadie' Will Celebrate Fifth Anniversary in Paris Nov. 8-11 with Special Program" (submitted by Andre Baudry, Director and Editor of Arcadie); Part XI of the Mattachine's "Homophilic Bibliography" (a list of relevant gay fiction and non-fiction titles); letters-to-the-editor ("Readers Write"); news article "Ease Up Sex Laws, Urges Dr. Bowman" (Dr. Karl M. Bowman, reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle); and news article "Radio Station Rejects Scholarly Sex Speech" (reprinted from the San Francisco News regarding a public lecture given by Dr. Karl M. Bowman which was refused to be aired. Dr. Bowman contended that "society should not try to govern sexual behavior to the extent that it does. And he added that laws cannot control homosexuality").

Contents include: lengthy nine-page update on the extensive debate in Great Britain's House of Commons regarding the famous the Wolfenden Report, which recommended that the laws prohibiting consenting sexual acts between adults in private be eliminated (a lengthy seven-page newspaper article from London's Daily Telegraph is reprinted in full and entitled "No Action on Homosexuals Yet: Mr. Butler [Great Britain's Home Secretary] Sets Out the Problems"); delightful short story "A Very Important Call" by C.V. Howard (regarding a Personals ad the character responds to: "Young voice student, tenor, greatly needs sponsor. Tel. replies to UX6-0000"); article "Calling Shots" by Harold (Hal) Call (on behind-the-scenes activities of the Mattachine Society); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor); part XIII of the Mattachine's "Homophilic Bibliography"; article "[The] Branson Foundation: Family Surrogate Counseling - Research and Rehabilitation" by Helen Kitchen Branson; reprint of a delightful cartoon from the London Daily Mail entitled "The Hemline Crisis" and featuring two very gay fellows: "I tell you frankly, Ronald - if anyone comes in here messing about with me hemlines, I'll SCREAM!"

Contents include: article "Incest - A Consistent Social Taboo" by Helen Kitchen Branson ("Incest among siblings has been forbidden by most known cultural groups, although a few primitive peoples have altered such inbreeding on a sanctioned basis"); short story "The Sunday Morning of an Auntie: Tenderloin Is Quiet After Saturday Night" by Dick Tyner (set in San Francisco); article "California Appeals Court Slaps Anti-Homosexual Bias: Decision Forbids Closing Bars Catering to Known Inverts" ("Three Appeals Court Justices in California declare that all persons who behave themselves have a right to patronize a public bar, and the state legislature has no authority to pass laws against the free movement and association of individuals"); book reviews ("They Walk in Shadow" by J.D. Mercer; "Confessions of a Mask" by Yukio Mishima); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor); reprint of column by Harold Weir from the Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper "The Sun" on homosexuality entitled "Dark Secret ."

August 1960 issue of the "Mattachine Review" (Volume 6 #8) A stapled digest containing 32 pages including front and rear covers (not including inserts described below).

Contents include: article "Well, Maybe Dr. Fink, But--" by Rolland Howard (responding to Dr. Harold K. Fink's article entitled "The Psychodynamics of the Homosexual" featured in the July issue: "My friends expected me to 'rip it up'"); the second part of a 2-hour radio broadcast prepared by KPFA-FM and broadcast in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York entitled "The Homosexual In Our Society" (panel participants included Karl M. Bowman, M.D., Dr. Frank A. Beach, Dr. David H. Wilson, and San Francisco attorney Morris Lowenthal, a lengthy discussion and debate); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor).

In addition, there are two inserts to this issue: 1) four-page program for the upcoming 7th Annual Mattachine Society Convention to be held at the Bellevue Hotel in San Francisco; 2) six-page color brochure from the Bellevue Hotel located at Geary & Taylor Streets.

Contents include: information on the upcoming Mattachine Society Eighth Annual Conference; short article "Let's Go Slow on Free-Wheeling Legislation" (on current anti-pornography bills before Congress); article "Creative Homosexuality" by John Sheldon, Ph.D. ("How to avoid the old rat race"); lengthy article "Society v. the Homosexual & the Articulate Answer" by Mark L. Sewell (with topics "The 'Social Problem' of Homosexuality"; "The Interaction Between Society and the Homosexual"; "The Reactions of the Homosexual"); column "Calling Shots" by Harold (Hal) Call (on Mattachine Society and homophile news); reprint of column by Guy Wright from the Feature Page of the News-Call Bulletin entitled "A Self-Help Organization For Men of Third Sex" (on the Mattachine Society); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor).

Contents include: column "Calling Shots" by Harold (Hal) Call who writes on the upcoming television program "The Rejected" ("Dr. Karl Bowman is shown on the cover as the television program director viewed him from between the cameras as he appeared on the forthcoming National Educational Television presentation of 'The Rejected' to be seen over KQED, Channel 9, 9:30-10:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11"; there is an interior photograph of three members of the Mattachine Society who participated on the program: Les Fisher, Donald S. Lucas, and Harold - Hal - Call); reprint of article appearing in the Vancouver, British Columbia "SUN" entitled "Prevention, Not Punishment, Answer to Homosexuals" by the Rev. J.M. Taylor ;short story "Night Voices" by Jack Parrish ;four-page program for the upcoming 8th Annual Mattachine Society Conference to be held at the Hotel Whitcomb from September 1-4, 1961 (San Francisco); article "The Nature of Man: The Problem of Homosexuality" by Aymer Roberts ;book reviews ;"Readers Write" (letters to the editor).

Contents include: article "Opposite Attitudes, Adjacent Jurisdictions" by MacKenneth Fingal (on recent sodomy litigation); news column "Calling Shots" by Harold (Hal) Call (this column headed "Fornication Legal, Says California Supreme Court"; one entry is particularly tragic and is headed "Long Beach Arrest Leads to Suicide" and begins "The body of an instructor at Long Beach State College was found recently, an apparent suicide. Death was caused by inhaling chloroform. Sheriff's deputies announced that the 35-year old psychology professor had been arrested a few days before on a morals charge after accusation by a sailor"); article "Sexual Freedom for Young Adults?" by Leo F. Koch ("A mutually satisfactory sexual experience would eliminate the need for many hours of frustrating petting and lead to much happier and longer-lasting marriages among our younger men and women"); short story "The Incident" by John E. O'Connor ;lengthy report "Sex Offense Statutes from the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961" (subtitled "Including Sections Relating to Rape, Deviate Sexual Conduct, Deviate Sexual Assault, Indecent Liberties with a Child, Contributing to the Sexual Delinquency of a Child, Indecent Solicitation of a Child, Adultery, Fornication, Public Indecency, and Obscenity; With Corresponding Explanations and Instructions from the 'Police Officer's Guide'"); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor).

Contents include: homophile news column "Calling Shots" (by Harold - Hal - Call, this column commemorating the Mattachine Society's "Twelfth Anniversary of Public Service" and listing the Society's woes, i.e. "A mounting indebtedness which now exceeds $4,000. Included here are bills for printing, purchase of a typewriter to replace one stolen, another adding machine to replace a historical model which conked out, etc...A possible loss of 500 copies per month newsstand distribution in one of our largest cities because a commercial distributor closed down..."); article "Remarks on 'The Homosexual Revolution'" by the book's author R.E.L. Masters (a homophobic book not well received at the time and since: the author writes, "Probably a good many of you, learning about the book's publication, will feel hurt and angry"); article "Dio Cassius on 'Elagabalus'" by Noel I. Garde (who begins "What would happen if some real mad young faggot got into a position where his word was law and his every desire was to be instantly fulfilled?"); short story "Deny, Deny, Deny" by John E. O'Connor ;poem "As He Who In A Vineyard On That Day" by Shawn Baker ("I know a god has entered me of late/And eagle-like, has hurried from my bed"); book reviews ("The Homosexual Revolution" by R.E.L. Masters); "Readers Write" (letters to the editor).

Contents include: Guest Editorial "Is the Candidate 'Truly' Masculine?" by William Parker ("The message that homosexuals are per se undesirable has recently been confirmed by the good men of the cloth who call themselves Christians and educators. A disturbing example of this notion is to be found in the following question now being asked about applicants for admission to some theological schools: 'Is the candidate truly masculine?'"); article "10th Life for Black Cat?" (on the continuing harassment of San Francisco's gay bar, the Black Cat, by law enforcement and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board); article "Homosexuality Laws Blasted" (taken from comments made by sociologist Edwin M. Schur, who spoke the previous month at the University of California at Berkeley); report "Across the Atlantic...Progress Report from Holland" (on Amsterdam's homophile organization Cultuur en Ontspannings Centrum - COC - reprinted from the I.C.S.E. Newsletter, the International Committee for Sexual Equality); short story "The Eye of the Beholder" by James Ramp ;column "Literary Scene: An informal column of reviews of fiction and non-fiction books on themes of sex variation" by Gene Damon (Barbara Grier); "Articles on Homosexuality Listed in the Index to Legal Periodicals, August 1952 - April 1963" compiled by the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.

Contents include: homophile news column "Calling Shots" by Harold - Hal - Call (leading news report entitled "Senator [William J. Fulbright] Calls for End of Puritanism"); article "Some of the People, All of the Time..." by Bernard Levin (on the Profumo case in England); article "I Want To Change My Sex!" ("The following letter, received by this magazine, was referred to the eminent international authority on 'sex change' problems, Harry Benjamin, M.D." Dr. Benjamin provides lengthy comments to the letter, which begins "Dear Doctor. What can I do to end my misery? In body I am looked at by others as a male, but in my mind and heart I see myself as a woman"); short story "Girls Are How You Find Them!" by Curt Stephen Curtiss ;"Literary Scene: An informal column of reviews of fiction and non-fiction books on themes of sex variation" by Gene Damon (Barbara Grier); book reviews ;one-page report "Norwegian Magazine Abhors American Post Office Department Censorship" (the homophile journal "Vennen," whose issues were often confiscated by the United States Post Office).

Tenth Year of Publication. January 1964 issue of the "Mattachine Review" (Volume 10 #1) . A stapled digest containing 32 pages including front and rear covers.

Contents include: a one-page tribute to President Kennedy: "IN MEMORIAM, JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, 1917-1963" (Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Dirge Without Music" appears underneath: "I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts/in the hard ground"); article "Love and Let Love" by Tom Wilson ("The 'flip' Side of the Record" and a delightful spoof - "I believe that our attitude toward heterosexuals should be one of tolerance and love. It is true that the Kinsey Report and other reliable sources indicate that the men and women who are 100% heterosexual throughout their lives are probably in the minority, but this is no reason why we should condemn them or discriminate against them"); short story "And Then There Were Three" by Marsh Harris ;column "Literary Scene: An informal column of reviews of fiction and non-fiction books on themes of sex variation" by Gene Damon (Barbara Grier); book reviews ("Drum" by Kyle Onstott reviewed in this issue); article "The Music Goes Round and Round..." by Del Martin, co-founder of the lesbian homophile organization, the Daughters of Bilitis (a critique of the homophile movement: "We cannot ask society to understand us unless we understand ourselves and our part in society").

Ebay is an amazing place and reasource. There I found these wonderful detailed and annotated descriptions of various important and early gay publications. I felt compelled to save and share them. They are published here with the author Brad Confer's consent. They were written for the sole purpose of selling the material on Ebay and not with scholarly intent, but they are such a rich resource as is, that I present them here. It has taken me almost as much work as Brad to collect, reformat, organize and publish this information. Please write me if this site is helpful to you. If you want to contact Brad, his business is Bloomsbury Books and you can email him at bloomsbury@earthlink.net